Artificial bait



Patented July 14, 1936 UNITED ,STATES ATENT OFFICE ARTIFICIAL BAIT OscarChristiansen, St. Paul, Minn.

Application August 1,

3 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements Vin lshing baits or lures,particularly'an artificial bait simulating a frog and the constructionof which involves certain features hereinafter described andclaimed.

One object of this invention-is to provide an imitation frog bait to beused particularly as a so-called surface bait, to be'pulled through orat the top surface of the water the pulling actionof a lish lineimparting movement to the legs of the frog to thus closely copy theactual "j or natural swimming action of a real frog. Otherobjectsinclude a certain body and leg construe tion and series of fish hooksxed in said parts in a new and unique manner, the positioning of saidhooks together with the particular shapes and assembly of parts beingsuch that lwhen the bait is cast on the water, it automatically ispositioned exactly as a live frog normally lies on or` Fig.A 2 is a left(or lower) side View of Fig.v 1' with the left leg of the frogomittedand including a minor modification.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinalsectional elevation as on line 3--3 in Fig. 1,omitting the front legs and a modification of construction involving asingle, central, large fish-hook in place of the imbedded smaller hooksshown one in each hind leg 35 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of only the body section of the bait shown inFig. 3.

Referring to the drawing by reference numerals, the bait shown isapproximately full 40 scale, said bait comprising a body section 5,right and left thigh sections of a pair of legs designated 6R. and BL,and pivotally connected outer leg sections 1R and 'IL extendingrespectively from said thigh sections. The thigh sections 45 arepivotally connected each as at 8 comprising a pin in the rear part ofthe body 5.

The body and leg parts thus far described are made of any suitablematerial which is buoyant,

preferably a good seasoned wood for the body,

50 but the leg sections are preferably of molded material preferably asubstance known as plastic Wood.

Each of the leg sections is cast about a continuous wire center or core9 formed exteriorly 55 of the respective ends of the thigh sections with1935, Serial No. 34,164

(Cl. 11B- 42) eyes 9E. Forwardly of the thigh section said wire extendsoutwardly in two vertically spaced, parallel, parts each with an eye atthe forward terminus and said pair of eyes registering vertically. Therear terminus of the body 5 is slitted hori- 5 zontally to provide arearward opening It] in which is pivotally retained one of each of saidpair of eyes 9E while the other pair of said eyes is exteriorly of andat the under side of said body. The pivot comprises merely a small nail8 passing 10 vertically through each pairof said eyes and imbedded inthe wood. Thus each thigh section hasia pivot in the body said pivotsbeing spaced transverselyand corresponding to the hip joint of a livefrog. The outer wire parts of each 15 thigh section also protrude in theform of a coiled leye 9E' in which is pivotally retained the forwardlyexposed wire core II of an outer leg section 'IR or lL. SaidA latter legsections are tapered and formed with an outward bend and V the extremitymay comprise a leather or fabric v terminus I2 simulating the foot of afrog.

It will be readily` understood that the leg sections are designed inoutwardly tapering and irregular form and in proportion to the bodyaccording to the general proportions of a frog. The body portion ofthebait, particularly, is flat and lin the finished product the entireunder side of the bait is preferably white or of light color. The-upperareas are preferably colored mainly green with Vsuitable dots and stripeeffects to closely resemble the natural colors of the type of frogs mostused for live bait.

It will be readily understood that the limbs and body made as abovestated and illustrated in the drawing comprise a life-like resemblanceincluding the hinge connections corresponding to the joints of a frog.The legs are normally spread, as to full line positions shown in Fig. 1,by means of a single piece of spring wire 22 fas- 40 tened centrally tothe rear central part of body 5, as with a staple I3. The end parts ofthe wire bear forwardly against the inner areas of the thigh sectionsthus holding the legs initially spread as stated. Y Y

I4 is an eyelet at the front end of the body to which is suitablyconnected the line I5 (see Fig. 1).

When this bait is cast on the water the fisherman begins to reel in theline I5 pulling the bait 50 along the surface. By making a series ofjerks on the line, intermittently; the leg members are closed towardeach other, by water resistance and against the pressure of spring 22.After each jerk the legs spring back to spread position. Thus thesuccessive spreading and closing movements simulate the swimming actionof a frog and attract sh to the bait.

It is well known that fish approach this type of live or imitation baitin various ways, some from behind, from either side or at the front ofthe bait. Therefore I have provi-ded for this bait a series of hooksplaced and designed to catch the fish if the bait is grasped from anyone of all possible angles, as followsz In Fig. l there is a pair ofrear sh hooks I6 one in each thigh part of a leg, the shank of each hookimbedded in the molded leg part and the hooked, barbed end of the fishhook protruding rearwardly, upwardly and in an inwardly inclined plane,its barb projecting forwardly above the leg, as shown.

In all forms of my bait I provide also a pair ofr forward fish hooksI'I, one at each side of the main plug toward the front in positionscorresponding to the locations of the front legs of a frog. Each hookhangs loosely (pivotally) on a nail I8 driven into the plug. The shankof each said hook I1 may, as in Fig. 2, be enlarged as IIL and suitablycolored. These depending front hooks cause the entire bait to bebalanced properly right side up. 'I'his balance is further made morenatural by the weight of the legs and metal parts at the rear, whichkeeps said rear part of the frog bait partially submerged and the entirebait therefore assumes a slightly inclined position in the water withthe head uppermost.

In a modified form of this sh lure, Fig. 3, there are no fish-hooks inthe leg sections but in place of these I substitute a single, largerfishhook I 9 the shank of which is imbedded longitudinally in the lowerpart of body 5 and the hooked and barbed end of which is exposedrearwardly and centrally of said body with the barb projecting forwardlyas clearly shown. The front end of the shank comprises the usual eye ISEwhich is exposed forwardly of plug 5 and comprises the connecting meansfor a, fish line.

In the latter form of the bait the body 5 is merely groovedlongitudinally, the shank of the hook I9 laid therein and the groove 20merely iilled with plastic wood or other suitable material (designated5W in Figs. 3 and 4) to seal the opening and retain the shank of hook I9rigidly.

2l in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 designates a pair of eyes preferably comprising apair of bead-head tacks properly located.

I claim:

1. An artificial bait comprising a preferably buoyant body section,hooks pivotally secured to the front end of the body simulating thefront legs of a frog, hind legs pivotally retained in the rear end ofthe body, all in proportions and colors simulating a live frog; saidbody part being slitted transversely at its rear part and said legsections comprising in part a forward metallic extension of each rearleg being formed with an eye, said eye parts of both legs beingpivotally retained in said body slit, a yieldable two-armed spring fixedat the rear end of the body and having its arms arranged to bearsimultaneously against the inner parts of the rear legs near said body,Said spring means normally retaining the said legs spread apart butadapted to yield when the legs are impelled toward closing position.

2. An imitation fish bait resembling a frog and comprising an elongatedbody, a pair of depending small hooks simulating front legs and a pairof larger rear legs pivotally retained each on a pivot in the rear partof the body, each rear leg comprising a thigh section directly connectedto the body on said pivot and an outer leg section pivotally connectedto each thigh section, spring means yieldably pressing the rear legsapart, a fish-hook rigidly retained in each thigh section with its shankretained longitudinally therein and its barbed end exposed upwardly andforwardly at the outer end of the thigh section and forward ofthepivotal connection of the two leg sections.

3. A fish lure comprising a device simulating a frog and comprising abody with small front legs each comprising a depending fish hook, a pairof rear legs pivotally connected to the rear end of the body, each on apivot pin, spring means yieldably spreading the rear legs, each rear legcomprising a thigh section and a pivotally connecte-d outer foot member,a sectional wire extending longitudinally through each rear leg, and apin extending vertically through the body for each rear leg andcomprising a hip joint therefor, said sectional wire forward of thethigh comprising two vertically spaced wires each with a loop at thefront extremity for pivotally engaging said pin, substantially as shownand described.

' lOSCAR CHRISTIANSEN.

